The first pattern I'm going to knit in this year's GAL is this market bag by Dana Gervais (Knitalot924 on Ravelry), a designer from Ontario, Canada. This bag caught my eye because of the fresh happy orange colour in the photographs, and also because of this handy feature of it - it comes in its own storage pouch.​

photo courtesy of and copyright Dana Gervais

A new law brought in in England last month means that supermarkets and large shops are now required to charge for carrier bags. I've been reusing bags for years anyway and always keep a few in my car but if I'm out on foot I have been caught out a couple of times being without a bag. I have a fairly roomy handbag but there's only so much a girl can fit in there. My plan for this bag is to keep it in my handbag. The pouch will keep it contained and make sure it doesn't take up too much space in there, but opened out to full size I should be able to get a good many impulse purchases in there.I have a skein of KnitPicks Dishie cotton in a green colour in my stash so I'm going to cast this on straight away as my first GAL project. To see Dana Gervais' other designs, click on her name above or on either of her photographs. That will take you to her Ravelry designer page with patterns for a larger market bag, socks, scarves and more!